Instructor

Veronica Boccardo was born in Venezuela and began her early dance training at the age of 5 on Margarita Island, Venezuela, learning ballet and flamenco. She has called Austin her home since 2006. In 2017, she graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.F.A. specializing in dance with a certification in dance education. During her time at UT, she performed works by Alvin Rangel, Shen Jun, and Charles Anderson. She performed in UT’s production musical Little Women, creating her own choreography for her role. She also trained at Joffrey Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, ABT Austin, Ballet West and more. She competed for Youth America Grand Prix and has performed in The Nutcracker as the principal reed flute and the Arabian pas de deux with Allegro Ballet of Houston.

She has trained extensively in the Vaganova technique; however, her teaching repertoire spans beyond ballet into jazz, contemporary, improvisation, and hip hop. She has also trained in social dance (ballroom, Latin, and country) with Sonia Jupiter. She has experience with commercial work and freelance projects, in addition to studio teaching. Veronica currently teaches ballet, pointe, and contemporary classes at SMSD. Veronica says an important part of her teaching is how knowledge can be powerful within a culturally responsive education. The more information and understanding we acquire through teaching, the wiser and more empowered students are to become leaders. Her goal is to foster dance-literate students through performing, creating, and connecting history to our everyday culture, as well as engaging in critical thinking. In addition, she seeks to create a sense of confidence, personal connection, and safety to all her students in the dance community as well as for them to believe that they are capable of conquering any tasks that will serve them on their future paths and other careers.